GOING DEEP, RISING HIGH
Ningwu’s ice cave, cliff-side village and hanging tombs are attracting a growing number of visitors. Yang Feiyue explores the county in Xinzhou, Shanxi.
The ice cave exhaled its frosty breath in our faces as we approached its mouth. We put on our jackets in front of the entrance to the cavern hidden in Ningwu county in Shanxi province’s Xinzhou city in August.
It seemed strange to don coats in the middle of the sweltering summer, amid the lush vegetation that fleeces the surrounding area.
But it felt right once we stepped inside the cave.
Translucent ice forms a natural archway leading into the depths.
We tiptoed one-by-one down narrow wooden stairs. I sometimes had to stoop through the contracted passageways. I snapped photos of the frozen waterfalls, and spikes of ice trickle from the ceiling or rise from the ground.
Some are too large for a person to wrap their arms around. Others are thin as needles.
Polychromatic lights cast them with otherworldly hues.
It takes about 15 minutes to explore the cavern, which remains frozen year-round. It’s said to be the largest of its kind in China, at just over 100 meters deep and 40 meters across at its widest. It’s located 2,300 meters above sea level.
The cave is believed to hail from an ice age 3 million years ago. Experts are still trying to figure out how its ice has survived.
It has become a popular attraction.
More than 43,000 people visited during last year’s May Day holiday alone.
The local government brought together over 100 experts from home and abroad, and travel agencies to discuss plans to protect the cave while developing tourism at a seminar in early August.
Tourism has created jobs that have lifted over 3,700 people out of poverty, Xinzhou’s Party chief, Li Junming, says.
Animation, microfilm, wrestling, music and cycling events have been staged this year to enhance the visitors experience at Ningwu.
One advantage is that the various attractions are concentrated in one area.
Ningwu’s Luya Mountain near the cave hosts hanging tombs, a cliff-side village, lakes and grasslands.
The wooden coffins suspended on the faces of cliffs, dozens of meters above the valley’s floor, are believed to be the only of their kind in northern China. Some poke halfway out of holes burrowed into the rock, while others entirely inside.
The mountain also hosts the cliff-side village of Wanghuagou. Stone-and-wood houses are connected to one another as log platforms serve as sidewalks high above the ground.
Visitors can see the 40 residents of the roughly dozen households herding sheep or farming on the mountainside.
Wang Yi, who traveled three hours from Shanxi’s provincial capital, Taiyuan, to the area with friends, says it was “cool” to dine at a small restaurant in the village.
“It was interesting to see so much natural ice in the cave during this time of year,” she says.
“I may return with my friends again next summer.”
Indeed, given the area’s ongoing tourism development, Wang may find herself among a growing number of visitors if she does.